When love comes in disgu.., p.1
When Love Comes in Disguise, page 1
When Love Comes in Disguise
A WESTERN ROMANCE NOVEL
CAROL COLYER
Copyright © 2021 by Carol Colyer
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Website: Carol Colyer
Table of Contents
When Love Comes in Disguise
Table of Contents
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When Love Comes in Disguise
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Painted with the Colors of Love
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
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When Love Comes in Disguise
Introduction
After meeting in an orphanage many years ago, Ellen and Alice promised to stay close and protect each other, no matter what. When Alice attracts the attention of a kind man who wants to marry her, Ellen follows her to Fort Worth without a second thought… not even about where she will stay in this new town. Fearless and determined, she quickly comes up with an outrageous plan; she disguises herself as a man and gets a job at Alice’s husband’s ranch. Yet she never counted on meeting a handsome man there who complicates her thoughts and feelings. Should she risk telling him who she really is? Or should she keep her secret and never even have the chance to be with him?
Ben is happy helping at his best friend’s ranch, learning a lot and guiding the new ranch hands. When his best friend finds a wife from a newspaper ad, Ben thinks he’s quite careless to marry someone he has never met. His thoughts are completely forgotten though the minute he meets a mysterious woman in town and becomes determined to learn more about her. Much to his frustration, she disappears and reappears at the ranch out of nowhere, visiting a friend and always seeming to keep her distance from him. Where did she come from and why doesn’t she allow him to spend more time with her? Can Ben solve this riddle and earn her trust?
Both Ellen and Ben feel a strong pull to each other from the very first moment their eyes meet. Ellen’s heart flutters during their fleeting moments together but sinks as soon as she has to disguise herself again. When everything inevitably comes to light, will it shatter their growing connection forever? Or could their feelings be enough to keep them together?
Chapter 1
“I think this is it.” Alice waved a letter in the air. Even though she wasn’t shouting and kicking up her heels the way Ellen would have done, Ellen knew her friend well enough to understand what she was feeling.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” Ellen asked, peering at the firm edges of the envelope. Alice fingered the envelope as she studied the wooden walls of the boarding house with something like trepidation.
“Maybe we should go in our room.”
Ellen ushered her friend through the door and plopped onto the bed she shared with Alice. “Now we’re in here. Open the letter already! I can’t stand to wait another moment.”
“It’s not even for you,” Alice laughed. She finally slid her finger under the flap, and the paper made a crinkling sound as the glue resisted then broke under the pressure. Squeezing her eyes shut, Alice pulled out a folded piece of paper. As she began unfolding it with that careful way she had of doing everything, something else fell to the ground. Ellen scooped it up before her friend could.
“Bully! He’s not so bad lookin’.”
“Let me see!” Alice reached for the picture, but Ellen held it out of reach, dangling it away from her like she had done with toys when they were younger. Even though they weren’t sisters by blood, they might as well have been having spent their whole lives together. Ellen finally relented and handed the picture over. Ellen watched her friend study the face of her possible future husband.
Alice’s brown eyes lit up just a little, and the corners of her lips turned up as she considered the possibilities of marrying Mr. Jeffrey Bailey.
“What do you think?” Ellen asked, trying to reach for the letter. Alice pulled it away from her without removing her eyes from the picture. Ellen smiled and reached out to tickle her friend’s ribs.
“You don’t have to tell me. It’s pretty clear what you’re thinking.”
“He’s closer to my age than some of the others,” Alice said. “You know I was most excited about hearing back from him. He’s always so gentlemanly, and have you ever seen a hand like this?” Alice held the letter just out of Ellen’s reach. Ellen had to admit that the man had a nice way of writing.
“It sounds like you’ve made up your mind then. Where does he live?”
“Fort Worth, Texas. He owns a cattle ranch.” Alice wrinkled her nose. “I wonder if it smells bad. All them animals.”
Ellen shook her head. “Maybe out on the ranch but not in the house. I’ve heard that out west people have so much land they have to walk half an hour to reach the barn. Could you imagine?”
“I can imagine that, just can’t imagine me being the woman in charge of it all.” Alice started chewing on her lower lip.
“Don’t be nervous. It might be a little strange at first, but I bet you’ll get used to it ‘fore you’re there a week.”
“Do you really think so?” Alice looked at the picture of the handsome man.
“I think you will,” Ellen said. She was acting brave, but she and Alice hadn’t been split up since they had found each other at five years old. She didn’t know what she would do when her best friend went to Texas. Still, now wasn’t the time to be selfish. They were both silent for several minutes as the clock in the hall ticked away the seconds.
“I guess I should write him back,” Alice said, sitting down at the writing desk in the corner with the letter smoothed on its surface in front of her. She reached for the fountain pen, selecting a clean sheet of white paper from the drawer. She held the pen over the paper, her eyes darting back and forth between the written letter from Jeffrey and the empty page she was sending him.
“Start writing already!” Ellen urged, worried that her friend would lose her nerve. Alice jumped, and the fountain pen dropped a blob of ink on the paper. Alice let out a huff.
“Now, I’ve ruined the letter before I’ve even written anything. We don’t have the money to buy paper only to throw it away.” She shook her head. “I’ll have to use the paper with the blob.”
“If you marry Jeffrey, you won’t have to worry about the paper anymore. You’ll rag out like a real woman whose only job is to cook and keep her husband happy.”
Alice tilted the fountain pen away from the paper so that it wouldn’t drip and ruin the paper more than it had already been ruined. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
Ellen tried to think of another way to animate her friend into making the decision to keep her happy. There was nothing in this city that could be called home. After leaving the orphanage at eighteen, they had been staying at the boarding house, doing work in exchange for a place to live.
Neither of them had any family, and all Alice had ever talked about was getting married and having children. Ellen didn’t want her friend to lose that opportunity, especially when the man seemed as nice as Jeffrey did.
“What would make you feel better about it?”
“If I wasn’t alone,” Alice’s voice peeped up like a child asking for something they knew they couldn’t have.
“I would go with you.” Ellen sat up, imagining it all now. She and Alice would take on the world from Texas, see new places, and meet fresh faces. “I wouldn’t get married, of course. I need some more adventure before that happens, but I could go with you, live with you, and keep you company.”
Alice immediately lit up. “That would be the perfect solution. I know Jeffrey is a perfect gentleman from his letters. Surely, he would agree to you staying with us. I’ll write him to ask if that would be acceptable. I do hope he agrees.”
Chapter 2
Ben strode into the general store with his best friend. Jeffrey
“How are you doin’ today, Bill?” Ben asked the general store owner, watching as his best friend asked to see if there was a letter for him. Ben perused the shelves in the general store, but he didn’t need anything at the moment. He and Jeffrey were planning to go to the cattle auction later that day. That’s where he would be spending his money.
Jeffrey smacked him on the back. “My letter came!” he said.
Ben nodded at him. “That’s good to hear, my friend. Did she stoutly deny you?” He was teasing, but he knew that by the hopeful look on his friend’s face that Jeffrey had never considered the fact that he might get a letter informing him she had chosen another suitor.
“I . . . haven’t yet opened it,” Jeffrey admitted.
Ben teased his friend some more. “I wouldn’t begin my celebrations just yet then. Of course, I wouldn’t be celebrating no matter what the woman told me. I’m not looking for a useless wife. If I ever marry, then it would be to a woman who can help around the ranch, get things done, you might say.”
Jeffrey was ignoring Ben and ripping the letter open. Watching Jeffrey’s face made it easy to interpret the letter's contents. The woman back East had accepted his best friend’s offer. Ben was happy for them, he really was, if that was what Jeffrey wanted for himself. He just didn’t want the same thing.
Jeffrey’s face changed subtly, his eyebrows falling and the corners of his mouth turning down.
“Oh no, my friend. What’s the matter?”
“Certainly wasn’t expecting this.” Jeffrey refolded the letter and stuffed it in his back pocket, even though Ben had been expecting him to send the money for a train ticket right then and there. He’d been carrying it around just in case for the last three days.
“We’d better get on our way to the cattle auction. Tell me as we’re going.” The two men climbed into Jeffrey’s carriage and the horses took them at a steady pace out of town and to the ranch where the cattle were being sold. They wanted to have time to look at the cattle before the bidding began. Seeing their teeth always gave Ben a good indication of whether he would make an offer or not.
“Does she have a child you weren’t expecting?” Ben asked, taking his guess at what could have his friend so worried.
“No, no children, ‘least she didn’t mention one. She had the strangest request. She wants to bring her best friend into town with her, says she could live with us and keep her company.”
Ben’s eyebrows rose. “You’re right. That’s a bit unconventional, but I don’t know if it’s something to worry about, eh?”
“Maybe for you as you’re not the one getting married!” Jeffrey was teasing Ben a little, but Ben knew his friend too well. Jeffrey was worried about this woman. It was normal to be worried when one was going to marry a stranger. Seeing her picture was one thing, but having yet to meet her made the whole business a bit more nerve-racking.
“It’s a long way for a woman to travel on her own,” Ben said. “If you think about the situation from her perspective, she might just be a bit nervous about going to a new town. Once she meets you, she’ll settle down quickly.”
“The thing is, and I’m not sure I want to admit this to her, so don’t you go saying nothing once she comes . . .”
Ben leaned forward.
“I don’t want another woman distracting my wife. I want my wife to cook for me, care for me, and not spend her days talking with her girlfriend. Maybe you’re right, though. She could just be nervous about traveling to a new town by herself. I could send the money to pay for her friend’s ticket, but I’ll be clear that she’s not to stay with us. Do you think that’s fair?”
Ben thought about his friend’s proposition.
“Seems fair to me. You’re being considerate of her feelings, but you’re also letting her know how it’s going to be. I think you have your answer, my friend.” Ben could see the auction in the distance. There were already half a dozen carriages in front of the field. Cattle were tied up all along the fence, and Ben was eyeing one near the far edge of the crowd. It looked beefy, and he needed some cows who could have babies. He had too many cows that gave milk but couldn’t get pregnant again. He shook his head. There were more difficulties than he would have imagined becoming a rancher. But then again, he wouldn’t trade his ranch for any other land in the world.
“Looks like they’re just starting,” Jeffrey said, hopping off and tying his horses to the fence. One of his horses eyed the cow on the other side.
“I’m going to take a look at some. Don’t leave without me.” Ben jogged off and started examining the cows up close. Jeffrey often got bored half an hour into these things once he had bought a couple of the very first cows. Ben liked to stay until the very end.
Many people had already bought what they wanted, and the bidding didn’t go as high. It helped him get some good cows at a lower price. He just had to convince Jeffrey to stay that long. Jeffrey had a lot on his mind today, though, and Ben glanced over to see Jeffrey rereading the letter.
Chapter 3
Ellen and Alice were in the fabric store, looking at different yards of fabric. Alice wanted to make a new dress for when she would marry Jeffrey.
“All of your dresses are new to him. It’s not as though he’s seen you wearing them before.” Ellen just thought about the hours of work it would take to make a new dress. Alice already had the pattern ready, and she was good at sewing. However, being cooped up and straining her eyes to make the stitches just right didn’t seem like something Ellen would enjoy doing. Hence, she was looking for adventure while her best friend was looking for a husband.
“Can you just tell me which fabric you think would look better?” Alice asked. It was rare that the friends fought, but Alice would sometimes get frustrated with Ellen’s happy-go-lucky outlook on life.
“I think the purple fabric looks more regal. You could be English royalty in that.”
Ellen shifted back and forth on her feet. Alice hummed as she ran her fingers over both. Even the shopkeeper was losing his patience. “I’ll give you both some time to think while I attend to my other customers.”
